Easy Steps for Estate Planning

Most people don’t have a will, never mind an estate plan. Planning your estate is an essential part of preparing for your later years in life. Before you start planning your estate make sure you have a will. If you don’t have a will at the time of your death your entire estate will end up in probate court. This means that the family you leave behind will have to fight to gain control of any of your assets. All of your important documents should be in one place. Consider a health care proxy, also known as a living will. Your living will should have a strong power of attorney that will ensure that your wishes will be carried out in the event that you’re unable to speak for yourself in a medical emergency or an accident.

Beware of online “do it yourself” programs. These software packages will get you started with your estate planning but you’ll want to hire an attorney to help you complete the form and legalize your signature. Your attorney will also be able to help you review your estate and guide you in making the right decisions. Your last will and testament will have to be notarized by yourself and by witnesses. Signatory laws will differ and depend on where you live. Make sure that one of your beneficiaries doesn’t sign as a witness.

If you have already set up an estate plan make sure that you review it on a regular basis. You’ll want to make changes to your estate and will when there are changes to your life such as divorce, marriage, the death of your spouse, the birth of a child, adoption, or when you move from one state to another. Have a clear list of all your assets and liabilities. Remember that your liabilities will have to be paid when you die. The remainder, less probate and administrative costs, will go to your beneficiaries. It will be up to you to decide what portion of your assets each of your beneficiaries receives.

Choose an executor who can manage your estate from the time of your death until the time that all of your assets have been dispersed. The executor needs to have the ability to manage your estate as well as the time to do so. Don’t forget to appoint a guardian for your children. Guardianship is a big issue and should be discussed with whomever you want to appoint for this important duty. Remember that planning your estate is probably a lot less complicated than you may think it is. Take the time to be prepared for your death by planning your estate today.

Estate Planning for Your Children

If you have minor children, estate planning is a very important step when it comes to planning for your death. Failing to name guardians for your children in your will can lead to custody issues that are easy to avoid by simply taking the time to decide who you want to take care of your minor children in the event of your death. Determining who will raise your children if you die can be a difficult decision. For this reason alone many parents avoid the issue of custody decisions since they’re unable to find someone who they think will be the perfect guardian.

Avoiding the issue of guardianship is the number one reason why people fail to plan their estate or have a will. By procrastinating the decision about custody parents put their children at risk in the event of their death. Unless you name a guardian the courts will name someone they feel is right for the role of guardian. And this could be someone who you least wanted to have custody of your children. Court battles for custody can be long and drawn out, especially if there is more than one applicant who is seeking custody. This can place a huge financial and emotional strain on your children as well as deplete the assets from your estate. The worst case scenario is that no one applies to take custody of your children. The courts may decide to give custody to someone in your family who really doesn’t want the responsibility or your children may end up in foster care.

When planning your estate try to choose guardians for your children who you know will want to take them. Don’t feel that you have to choose a family member; friends you trust can also be ideal candidates. Consider separating guardianship of your children from the assets of your estate. By naming someone other than the guardian to be the trustee of your children’s money you ensure that there are some checks and balances in place when it comes to deciding how that money is spent.

Always have a backup named for the guardian in the event that your first choice is unable to accept the role. Keep in mind that if you name a couple as the guardian the issue of their breakup may become an issue and this can lead to a legal battle for custody. For this reason alone it’s a good idea to name individuals as guardians. If you’re divorced, consider your ex-spouse as the guardian. Most of the time, your ex will want to have custody anyway. Why make it more difficult by naming someone else as guardian and risking a lengthy court battle?

Estate Planning: When and Where to Start

Many people don’t know when and where to start when it comes to planning their estate. It seems there are so many things that you need to know about estate planning such as trusts to reduce taxes, issues about guardianship, and how to distribute your assets. And then you need to think about finding the time and money to hire a lawyer to help you draft a will. So where do you start? Perhaps the best place to start is simply by thinking about what you want to happen when you’re gone. Nobody likes to think about their own death. But death is an eventuality and needs to be planned for by everyone. The sooner you think about planning your estate the sooner you can act. Once you have your estate in order you’ll be able to enjoy your later years knowing that your family is taken care of in the way you want.

Organize and arrange all of your financial information. Take into account all of your assets as well as your debt. You need to have accurate information about how much your estate is worth. Remember to include your intangible assets such as any investments you’ve made, your insurance policies, any art collections you have, and your personal property such jewelry and furniture. When you have a full picture of what your estate is all about you can decide what’s at risk. A lawyer experienced in estates can help you draft your will. Some questions that you’ll want answered are whether or not your estate will be subject to taxes and whether it will have to go through a probate court. As well, find out what the risks are to your estate in the event that you’re incapacitated and unable to make decisions for yourself.

Talk to your family and discuss what effect your estate planning will have on them. Talk about their wishes and how they want to see your assets distributed. At the same time, make certain that you talk about your own wishes since what you want is just as important. The more you talk before your death the less likely there are to be problems after your death. If you think that there may be difficulties after your death regarding the decisions you’ve outlined in your will you can consider a Legacy Trust which will have a more advanced strategy for dealing with your assets. A Legacy Trust will be much harder for anyone to contest. Keep an eye on the future. Your estate will grow and change over time so it’s important that you review it on a regular basis.

Standalone Retirement Trusts

Nowadays, most Americans hold their wealth in retirement accounts. When it comes to
inheritance and estate planning, special considerations are necessary to ensure that these assets are protected and distributed according to the account holder’s wishes.

Retirement assets, such as IRAs, are typically passed via beneficiary designation. For example, for a married couple with children, it would be common to designate the spouse as primary beneficiary and children as secondary. However, in almost all occasions it is advantageous to name a trust—rather than a particular individual—as the designated beneficiary. Once the retirement account becomes inherited by a non-spouse beneficiary (i.e. children), it is important to understand that IRS regulations
treat this inherited retirement account differently. Specifically, once inherited, the beneficiary is obligated to begin taking required minimum distributions from such funds within a more immediate time horizon of either five years or over the beneficiary’s life expectancy. An IRA administrator will also offer the option of receiving the proceeds as a lump sum payment, which is very often discouraged, especially in the case of minor or financially irresponsible children. The preferred goal in planning for inheriting retirement assets is to maximize this window of time so that the tax-sheltered, long-term growth benefits of retirement accounts are maximized.

IRAs and other retirement instruments were designed precisely for a specific purpose: retirement. They were not intended as a savings mechanism for future generations. Tax laws work according to this assumption, and so foresight and planning are necessary when including such holdings in an estate to be passed on to beneficiaries. Trusts can serve as an appropriate conduit to protect and preserve these assets.

Some will consider a standard revocable living trust by default when structuring a retirement trust. This could cause unfavorable consequences, however, including a more fixed distribution schedule and the lack of creditor protection. Further, the IRS may a not consider the revocable living trust as a designated third party beneficiary, resulting in the assets becoming immediately, taxable income.

A Standalone Retirement Trust is a trust that is created for the sole purpose of serving as the beneficiary of the remainder of your IRA funds (and other qualified funds, e.g. 401(k)). Thus, the trust will be funded after you pass with whatever is left of your retirement assets. Then, the trustee of the Standalone Retirement Trust will oversee the distribution of the funds to your heir(s) in a manner you see fit.

A Standalone Retirement Trust will provide you with significantly greater control over the manner in which your remaining retirement funds are distributed to your loved ones, rather than just control who will receive the funds after you die—as is the case with leaving your IRA through a simple beneficiary designation.

Other potential benefits of Standalone Retirement Trusts include

Asset protection in the event of a divorce;
Creditor protection;
Generation-skipping tax benefits;
Special Needs/Supplemental Trust benefits;
Alerts the beneficiary of any tax consequences of an immediate payout;
Allows beneficiary’s to thinly stretch tax obligations over time;
Alleviates the need for a court appointed guardian for minor beneficiaries
Provides a beneficiary with asset protection in the event the beneficiary becomes disabled; and
Allows for successor beneficiaries.

For more information on Standalone Retirement Trusts contact our office today.

Funding Your Living Trust

Hopefully by now you’ve heard about the benefits of having a living trust as part of your estate plan. The most notable benefit is the ability to keep your assets from having to go through probate. You can retain control of assets during your life, and exercise control over how they are managed and used after your death. A trust can reduce, and in many cases eliminate income, estate, and capital gains taxes on assets.

Meeting with a skilled estate planning attorney and creating the best type of trust for your particular needs is a big step. Creating the trust, however, isn’t all you need to do. Consider how silly it’d look if you bought a safe deposit box or opened a bank account, but never put anything in it. They can only protect your assets if they’re inside. If you die or become incapacitated and your trust is not funded, it is mostly useless, no matter how well-drafted it might have been.

How to Fund a Living Trust

So how exactly do you go about funding a living trust? That depends on the nature of the assets intended to be placed in the trust. Many types of assets can be used to fund a trust by re-titling them in the name of the trust.

For instance, if your name is John Doe and you currently have a bank account or cars in your sole name, you could change the name on the bank account or vehicles to that of the trust, with yourself listed as trustee of the trust. Also, if you are married, you and your spouse can both be listed on an account as co-trustees.

Other assets that can be re-titled in order to fund a trust are real estate, stocks, and other investment accounts. Legal requirements for funding a trust with real estate are somewhat complicated, and it is best to have an attorney’s assistance to make sure you use the right type of deed and that it is properly prepared. More likely than not, you will deed the property directly to the trust.

Certain types of assets may be used to fund a trust by designating the trust as the beneficiary of those assets. Many of our clients choose to make their trust the primary beneficiary of their life insurance policies. This allows the client to have lots of control on how the policy proceeds are disposed of at the death of the policyholder. Annuities or retirement accounts, including 401(k), 403(b), and IRAs can also fund a living trust after death through beneficiary designations.

Having retirement account assets payable to certain trusts can significantly reduce the tax deferral period for your taxes. On the other hand, other trusts can enhance the likelihood of attaining the maximum stretch-out period for your heirs. At the Law Office of Rodney Davis, LLC, we can assist you in re-titling your accounts to avoid a bad outcome.

Getting the Help You Need to Fund Your Living Trust

If you have not yet had your attorney draft your trust, prepare a list of the assets that you want to place in the trust. Understanding how you plan to fund your trust will help your attorney guide you in doing so efficiently. If you have created your trust, but have not yet funded it, don’t delay, act now! Call our office today to learn how you can fund your living trust.

Integrating Long Term Care Into Your Estate Plan

What Is Long Term Care?

When most people think of estate planning they focus on how their assets will be disposed of when they are deceased. A well drafted estate plan, however, can and should take into consideration the need for long term care.

Long-term care provides a range of services and support for you individuals who are unable to care for themselves due to a chronic illness or disability. Most long-term care isn’t medical care, but rather help with basic personal tasks of everyday life, sometimes called activities of daily living. All too often, individuals and families wait until a medical crisis actually happens before considering long term care, which usually leads to throwing together a hasty estate plan in the face of mounting medical costs.

Why Consider Long Term Care?

Long term care costs can easily drain one’s finances in a relatively short time. According to the Harvard University Study in Compensation & Benefits Review, 72% of Americans become impoverished after just one year of nursing home care. Long term care isn’t typically covered by private medical insurance and major medical insurance plans. Medicare only pays for skilled and rehabilitative care after a three-day hospital stay; this excludes custodial care, the assistance someone needs for daily living. Medicaid only covers nursing home bills after a loved one is bereft of assets.

Whether the care you need takes place in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or with an in-home provider, the costs can mount with alarming speed. According to the Genworth 2016 Annual Cost of Care Study, the cost of receiving long term care continues to rise sharply year over year, especially for services in the home, where the vast majority of Americans receive long term care and for a longer period of time than facilities. The median monthly costs for the services of a homemaker or an in-home health aide for 44 hours a week are $3,813 and $3,861, respectively. The average monthly cost of a private nursing home room is $7,698, up 1.24 percent from 2015. The cost of a semi-private room is up 2.27 percent to $6,844 per month. Assisted living communities saw a slight increase in costs of .8 percent to $3,628 per month.

Long Term Care Planning in Your Estate Plan

As with all major life situations, careful planning will ensure the financial resources are available when they are needed. If your estate plan does not consider long term care, chances are you haven’t taken a realistic look at your assets and how the potential need for long term care may affect them. Talk to an estate planning attorney about the following factors to get on the right track:

Set Reasonable Expectations for Long Term Care

While we can’t predict what will happen to us and when it will happen, we can take an educated guess. For example, are there any major diseases that run in your family? Are you involved in any kind of activity that could affect your body long term? While considering these things may feel uncomfortable, it is far better to consider them early on and plan accordingly, rather than face the reality of long term care with no plan at all.

Consider a Long Term Care Insurance Policy

Since it is highly likely that Medicare or medical insurance will not cover long term care costs, a long term care insurance policy can ensure that your financial assets are not drained due to long term care costs. Most people assume that long term care will be covered by Medicaid and face the rude awakening of having their financial assets drained after learning that it doesn’t.

Consider and discuss long term care insurance policies with affordable premiums that won’t rise drastically over time. Begin this process as early as possible, as the younger you are when you apply, the lower the long term care insurance premiums are.

Benefits of Long Term Care Insurance Policies Include:

– Preserve savings and assets for family and friends;

– Help maintain one’s financial independence from family and friends, often eliminating the need to borrow money for long-term care costs;

– Relieve family and friends of caregiving tasks, as paying for professional care becomes an affordable option;

– Allow a loved one to choose where he receives care. If Medicaid pays for care, a nursing home is the only option. People can design their policy depending on where they want to receive care: in a nursing home, in the community, at home, or in an assisted living facility; and

– Expand the range of services a loved one receives, including: care from visiting nurses, home health aides and friendly visitors programs; home-delivered meals and chore services; and time in adult daycare centers and respite services for caregivers.

Have Your Advanced Medical Directive, Power of Attorney, and Trust(s) Drafted

In the event that you are unable to make medical decisions for yourself, the last thing you want is for your family and/or friends to fight over them. Have an estate planning attorney draft you an Advanced Medical Directive outlining the treatment you want to be given if you are unable to do so. Otherwise, you run the risk of a lengthy court process in which a court will appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf.

Revocable or irrevocable trusts, such as a life insurance trusts have proven to be effective long term care planning tools for individuals of all ages, as they provide tax benefits and allow the donor to direct how the life insurance proceeds will be disposed of at the donor’s death.

While planning for long term care may seem like a daunting task, those who do plan are able to live with the peace of mind of knowing that they are covered if a need for long term care ever arises. Contact our office today to learn how we can help you create an estate plan that includes long term care.